1981 CJ Electrical mess

[Mr.Bo]

My Jeep is a 1981 CJ-5. Everything is wrong with it but the price was right and it doesn't have any rust so.....

Its electrically screwed I think, I hit the brakes and the blinkers and marker lights come on, it eats batteries, and the gauges work on rare occasion with the voltometer bouncing each end like a coked up squirrel, 'cept faster. had a horn button on the steering column...thats gone though.

to get her going i had to replace the steering column and the ignition (hei)

any ideas what my electrical woes may be? alternator has been replaced. im thinking ignition switch, voltage regulator, short, bad groung??? anybody know where the ground is for the dash circuit???

thanks in advance!

 

[Saddle Tramp]

To start with I would check all of the grounds,80% of all electrical problems can be traced to faulty grounds. Then start looking for frayed wires, any thing that might suggest a short. If worst comes to worst, you can always pick up a new wiring harness for Painless. Not cheap but should solve the problem.